Gary Sudhalter of Potomac and his 27-year-old son, Corey, had been at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas for a few days when they decided to check out a new spot.

The father and son paid $100 each for access to a “VIP area” with private seating, Gary Sudhalter recalled Wednesday.

“We decided, for whatever reason at the last minute, that we wanted to upgrade,” said the 53-year-old, whose son lives in New York.

“That probably saved our lives,” he said.

Because they had moved, the Sudhalters were not in the line of fire when police say Stephen Paddock began firing into the crowds Sunday night from his room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killing 59 people. More than 500 other people were injured — some severely — from gunshot wounds or in the rush of people attempting to flee.

A moment of silence was held for 2008 Arundel High School graduate Tina Frost, who was shot in the Las Vegas mass shooting, prior to the Arundel at Old Mill girls varsity soccer match on October 3, 2017. Teachers shared memories and well wishes at Arundel earlier in the day.

A moment of silence was held for 2008 Arundel High School graduate Tina Frost, who was shot in the Las Vegas mass shooting, prior to the Arundel at Old Mill girls varsity soccer match on October 3, 2017. Teachers shared memories and well wishes at Arundel earlier in the day.

Authorities say Paddock was on the 32nd floor of the hotel, and killed himself as police closed in on him.

Gary Sudhalter said when he first heard “popping” sounds as headliner Jason Aldean was performing, the crowd didn’t realize what was happening. But soon, people recognized the sounds as gunfire.

He said he heard people scream, “Get down, get down!”

He and others got onto the ground. He could see flashes of lights — “almost like strobe lights” — coming from the hotel. His only thought at that moment, he said, was to cover his son. They and others started crawling.

“We crawled as low as we could to those stairways,” he said. “Then [the gunfire] started again and everyone stopped and just went straight on the ground.”

Eventually, Sudhalter and his son ran for 1½ to 2 miles, trying to get as far away as they could, he said.

Now back in Maryland, “my thoughts really are with those 59 people [who were killed] and their families, and the 500 people who were injured,” Sudhalter said.

Among the wounded are Tina Frost, a 2008 graduate of Arundel High School. The 27-year-old Crofton native lost her right eye in the shooting and is in intensive care at a Las Vegas hospital. Frost moved to California a few years ago and has been working as an accountant for Ernst & Young.

A GoFundMe campaign for her had raised more than $262,000 as of Wednesday evening.

Her father, Rich Frost, posted Tuesday on Facebook that she was on a ventilator and still in a coma, but was “fighting hard.”

“When they have to move her, she sits up on her own, rolls herself and pushes the nurses away,” he wrote. “She calms down when we say, ‘Easy, Tina.’ ”

Officials say they still haven’t determined a motive in the attack. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Wednesday that investigators were “reconstructing the life, the behavior, the pattern of activity” of Paddock.

Sudhalter, who owns a commercial insurance brokerage, said his family loves music and he enjoys traveling to shows. He still has the admission wristbands from the Las Vegas festival and said he plans to keep wearing them in honor of the victims, first responders and country music artists.

“I won’t let one crazy person like this stop me from continuing to go to concerts, supporting the country music community, enjoying times with my wife, son and daughter,” he said.